I NTERNET R ESEARCH Its More Than Just Wikipedia!

W HAT Y OU W ILL L EARN How to use the research process Effective search strategies How to evaluate a website What plagiarism is and how it can be avoided Helpful resources you can use

W HAT Y OU A LREADY K NOW When you are told to research or look up information, where do you go? Google Bing Wikipedia

B UT D ID Y OU K NOW … Google and other search engines are in business to make money, and that means bumping the ad- driven sites to the top of the page. Wikipedia can be a starting point for research, but even its creators make no guarantee of its validity. Anyone can contribute to Wikipedia!

When 300 middle school students were asked how they begin research, most of them answered that they simply type the question into Google. Not one out of 600 high school students surveyed could answer when asked how Google returns search results. Many said it was magic. WHAT YOU DIDNT KNOW Data provided by Erial

T HE R ESEARCH P ROCESS Define the Task Locate Info Select Sources Organize Notes Present Ideas Assess Your Work

L OCATING I NFORMATION The first two results are advertisements for companies trying to make money. NO INFORMATION! Google returned 483, 000,000 results. Really?! Google returns the NEWEST information first. Fresher isnt always better when youre doing research.

L OCATING I NFORMATION : S EARCH S TRATEGY Start general Try multiple combinations of words Use more precise language Look beyond the first five results! Now were going to get logical …

L OCATING I NFORMATION : S EARCH S TRATEGY When searching computer databases, the results are controlled by use of Boolean operators: OR, AND, and NOT Think about ice cream. Imagine all the possibilities a soft ice-cream machine could make if it offered chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, and could mix together any and all combinations of those flavors.

If you don't wish to try every possible flavor combination the soft ice cream machine offers, you must narrow your selection. In database searching AND narrows your search and links together different concepts. Think of AND as only if also strawberry AND vanilla AND chocolate. Images provided by Ithaca College Library

In database searching OR expands a search by broadening the results. It is often used to combine like words or ideas. Think of OR as either or Strawberry OR vanilla OR chocolate

In database searching, NOT is used to get rid of an unwanted concept. (Strawberry OR vanilla) NOT chocolate

L ET S P RACTICE ! Using Boolean Operators

Which of the following searches would return the most results? Football AND high school Football AND high school AND Ohio Which of the following searches would return the fewest results? children children OR toddlers How would you compose your search if you wanted to find vampire books but you HATE the Twilight series? Vampires AND Twilight Vampires OR Twilight (Vampires) NOT Twilight

L OCATING I NFORMATION D ATABASES EBSCO Student Research Center 6-8 EBSCO All Database Search Academic Search Premier Sweet Search ERIC

E VALUATING W EBSITES …But everything on the Internet is true, right?

T HINK L IKE A D ETECTIVE When using the Internet to find information, you should use the following criteria to determine whether its a source you want to use. PurposeObjectivityCurrencyResponsibilityClarity

T IPS FOR E VALUATING W EBSITES Be skeptical! If the page has no author, editor, or publisher, it is probably NOT reliable Look at domain names (.org,.com,.edu) Information is only as good as its source Always verify information with another source

P LAGIARISM The Dangers of Copy and Paste Image obtained from Turnitin.com

W HAT ? Plagiarism is: To steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one's own To use another's work without crediting the source To present an idea or product as new that has been gathered from another source In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.

W HY ? Its WRONG. Its becoming easier and easier for teachers and principals to detect plagiarism. In the time it takes you to plagiarize, you could probably finish the actual assignment. Whenever you cut and paste from a website, you cut and paste all the garbage from that website as well. You think that a Wikipedia article sounds like you? Dream on. Why Shouldnt You Plagiarize?

W HAT TO C ITE Always cite other peoples words and ideas Anything you read in a book, article, web page, etc. Anything that is presented or spoken like speeches, PowerPoint's, etc. You dont need to cite what is considered common knowledge Example: Barack Obama is our president. Example: President Taylor died in office. BUT, you should cite something that is controversial or contradicts common knowledge Example: Barack Obama will not be elected for a second term. President Taylor died in office after drinking a cup of tea that had been poisoned.

H ELPFUL R ESOURCES Plagiarism and Research Guide ccess/ ccess/ Helpful Research and Citation Guide Bibliography Maker Helpful Citation Machine

S OME F INAL T IPS AND T RICKS Understand Be aware of what type of source youre viewing Article? Blog? Record Take good notes documents to yourself Keep note cards on hand Organize Keep all documents until youre done! Keep things in one place Write down important info